Turkey restored the citizenship of its most famous poet Monday in a symbolic step meant to show it was addressing criticism of its human rights record in hopes of joining the European Union.

Turkey stripped Nazim Hikmet of his nationality in 1951 at the height of the Cold War because of his communist views, branded him a traitor and imprisoned him for more than a decade. He died in exile in Moscow in 1963, but his work lived on — and the government's decision to restore his rights is meant to show Turkey is ready to embrace a limited amount of criticism.

Hikmet's works, which have been translated into more than 50 languages, have recently been at the center of a controversy as Turkish leftists and intellectuals have pressed the government to restore his citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said it was time for the government to change its mind.

"We think we did the right thing," Cicek said.

Cicek said the poet's family would decide whether to ship his remains from Russia back to his homeland.

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